MSI B360 Gaming Plus & B360 Gaming Arctic Review: Fraternal Twins On The Cheap
by Joe Shields on August 27, 2018 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
- MSI
- Coffee Lake
- i7-8700K
- B360
Gaming Performance 2017: AoTS Escalation, ROTR
AoTSe
Ashes of the Singularity is a Real Time Strategy game developed by Oxide Games and Stardock Entertainment. The original AoTS was released back in March of 2016 while the standalone expansion pack, Escalation, was released in November of 2016 adding more structures, maps, and units. We use this specific benchmark as it relies on both a good GPU as well as on the CPU in order to get the most frames per second. This balance is able to better display any system differences in gaming as opposed to a more GPU heavy title where the CPU and system don't matter quite as much. We use the default "Crazy" in-game settings using the DX11 rendering path in both 1080p and 4K UHD resolutions. The benchmark is run four times and the results averaged then plugged into the graph.
Our AOTSe results here on the with the MSI B360 boards showed nothing anomalous. 1080p testing had the boards reaching 45.5 and 45.7 FPS and 33.3 and 33.4 FPS in 4K UHD testing.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure game that features similar gameplay found in 2013's Tomb Raider. Players control Lara Croft through various environments, battling enemies, and completing puzzle platforming sections, while using improvised weapons and gadgets in order to progress through the story.
One of the unique aspects of this benchmark is that it’s actually the average of 3 sub-benchmarks that fly through different environments, which keeps the benchmark from being too weighted towards a GPU’s performance characteristics under any one scene.
Rise of the Tomb Raider results showed a similar result in 1080p with the MSI B360 boards running a couple FPS faster than most other boards. This difference in 1080p, a more CPU bound resolution, is caused by the latest updated OS, microcode, and ensuring the HPET timing is off.
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boozed - Monday, August 27, 2018 - link
I think you mean "fraternal", not "paternal".dave_the_nerd - Monday, August 27, 2018 - link
That.boozed - Tuesday, August 28, 2018 - link
I wish there was a "send corrections" button somewhere.PeachNCream - Monday, August 27, 2018 - link
Error on the CPU Performance, Short Form page:"The results with these three boards are notable quick than when using the non-updated OS and firmware on the motherboards."
Should probably read "notably quicker" or something along those lines.
PeachNCream - Monday, August 27, 2018 - link
Errors on the Conclusion page:"Most anything else will find its way onto a B360 board, and ultimately, often a good bit cheaper than its Z370 counterparts."
Maybe something like "...and ultimately will often be a good bit..." so it flows a little better.
"The VRM is admittedly not be the most robust we have seen, but it doesn't need to be considering the platform does not overclock."
Should probably read "is admittedly not the most" which means omitting the awkwardly placed "be" from that line.
Ryan Smith - Monday, August 27, 2018 - link
Thanks!justaviking - Monday, August 27, 2018 - link
I find that white motherboard strangely attractive.PeachNCream - Monday, August 27, 2018 - link
I like it too. It's perhaps a bit over the top, but far less so than a lot of other boards out there. The lack of abstract dragons, birds, gears, or hints of cars and jets makes it very appealing. Though, if I were buying one, it'd still end up inside a windowless case, stuffed into a corner or a closet where it would stream games to a couch-friendly, fanless laptop or tablet.Lord of the Bored - Wednesday, August 29, 2018 - link
Call me crazy, but I'd like to see someone make a green motherboard.EnzoFX - Thursday, August 30, 2018 - link
I wanted a green board for my latest build... White looks slick sure, but needs matching gpu/ram, etc. Something.